Ghana: Press zooms in on Minister’s support for Artificial Intelligence, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said despite challenges associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), there was the urgent need to harness the facility towards the country’s socio-economic development is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said despite challenges associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI), there was the urgent need to harness the facility towards the country’s socio-economic development.
He said the country should consider investing in AI to be able to take advantage of the emerging AI revolution, currently sweeping across the globe.
Dr Adutwum disclosed this in Accra yesterday, when he opened a day’s training workshop on AI, organised by the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) in collaboration with the Yonsel University of South Korea.
The event was on the theme: ‘AI, ICT, and the Future of Education in Ghana 2024,’ and was attended by academics, teachers, students and other stakeholders in the education sector.
The minister noted that AI, as an Information Communication Technology (ICT) tool, was embedded with numerous opportunities and advantages.
He, however, cautioned that the disadvantages associated with the use of AI required that the country moved ahead of the curve in order to maximise it use.
“AI can be a learning tool…, as well as what I call a tool to be learned. If you look at the world economic forum and the projection it is making, we are going to lose 85 million jobs by the next few years and within the same period, 97million jobs are going to be created through AI,” he emphasised.
The newspaper says that Ghana will begin issuing Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licence for exports to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) this year, the Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Mr John Allotey, has disclosed.
According to him, this followed a meeting in Brussels, Belgium in September last year, of the Joint Monitoring and Review Mechanism (JMRM) body for the country’s FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU.
Again, under the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+Programme (GCFRP), Ghana has become the second country in Africa after Mozambique, to receive payments from the World Bank trust fund, for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
So far, he said 972,456 tons of carbondioxide (CO2) emission reductions were validated and verified by the World Bank for the first monitoring period (2019).
Mr Allotey said Upfront Advance Payment (UAP) of USD1,323,501.00 was received in 2020, from the $4,862, 280 of carbon payments from the World Bank in January 2023.
Under the REDD+Programme, Mr Allotey said the FC Board, led by Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II, members of the Project Steering Committee, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Global Shea Alliance, had paid a working visit to outdoor the first 1,000 grafted shea seedlings.
The project intends to plant 3.5 million grafted shea seedlings to restore degraded shea parklands,” he said.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that effective January 1, 2024, Cyber-security Service Providers (CSPs), Cybersecurity Establishments (CEs), and Cybersecurity Professionals (CPs) without a licence or accreditation are barred from operating in Ghana, the Cybersecurity Authority (CSA) has said.
This follows the December 31, 2023, deadline issued by the Authority to CSPs, CEs, and CPs to obtain a licence or accreditation to operate lawfully in the country, the Authority said in a statement copied the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday.
“The CSA will fully enforce the provisions of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) regarding its mandate to regulate CSPs, CPs and CEs.
Accordingly, CSPs, CEs and CPs who offer cybersecurity services without a licence or accreditation granted by the Authority, do so in contravention of Act 1038 and will face the full rigors of the Law including criminal prosecutions and administrative penalties where applicable. Institutions and individuals are consequently advised to engage only licensed CSPs and accredited CEs and CPs,” the statement said.
By this, Ghana becomes the first country in Africa and second globally, after Singapore, to have taken such a bold and giant step to develop the cybersecurity industry.
The decision is in line with the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), which came into force in December 2020 to regulate cybersecurity activities and promote the development of cybersecurity in Ghana.
The Act thus mandates the Authority to regulate cybersecurity entities, pursuant to sections 4(k), 49, 50, 51, 57 and 59.
The Graphic says that the flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has stated that he is exercising prudence in his pledges for the upcoming 2024 general elections.
To Mr Mahama, the current state of Ghana’s economy limits his ability to make grand promises.
He made the comment while addressing NDC supporters in Hohoe in the Volta Region as part of his campaign tour.
Mr Mahama expressed concern about the economic crisis Ghana was facing under the New Patriotic Party administration.
He promised transparency by revealing the financial state of the nation, and pledged to address the economic issues if elected. “…I am being very measured in the promises that I make because we all know the crisis in which this country has been plunged [into]. We will show you the books and finances of this country, and you will realise the harm that the New Patriotic Party administration has done this country, the economy is broke”, he stated.
During his two-day “Building the Ghana we want together” tour in the Volta Region, Mahama outlined specific promises for the next NDC government.
He noted that, his government would be committed to providing monthly allowances of GH¢1,000 to all Assembly members, a proposal estimated to cost the nation GH¢80 million annually.
GIK/APA